Fine Molds Nine seat fighter "Tachinu Wind"

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 7:59 am

I've ordered this from Borderless World (Japan), it should arrive in a couple of weeks

I think this is more or less the same kit as Willem's however its a 'tie-in' to the Hayao Miyazaki film 'the Wind Rises' so probably the paint job will be different?

my first GB, I can't wait to get started

planemaker · Post by **planemaker** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 1:45 pm

Looks nice, will be watching this one.

Good luck with it and have a happy new year!

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 7:52 pm

While I’m waiting for the kit to arrive here is some background to the subject.

As the kit is a ‘tie-in’ to Hayao Miyazaki (Studio Ghibli) anime film ‘the Wind Rises’ I thought I tell you a little about the film.

This is Miyazaki’s last film and its the story of Jiri Horishoki, the designer of the Zero. Young Jiri wants to be a pilot however his poor eyesight prevents this and in a dream he meets Italian aircraft designer Giovanni Caproni and decides to become an aeronautical engineer.

On his way to university in Tokyo Jiri is on a train when the ‘Great Kanto’ earthquake, at the time (1923) considered the worst natural disaster ever to strike quake-prone Japan.

Some background to the earthquake, I knew nothing about it so I’m assuming you don’t either

. The initial jolt was followed a few minutes later by a 40-foot-high tsunami. A series of towering waves swept away thousands of people. Then came fires, roaring through the wooden houses of Yokohama and Tokyo, the capital, burning everything—and everyone—in their path. The death toll would be about 140,000, including 44,000 who had sought refuge near Tokyo’s Sumida River in the first few hours, only to be immolated by a freak pillar of fire known as a “dragon twist.”
Although not really covered in the film the quake and its aftermath destroyed two of Japan’s largest cities and traumatised the nation; it also whipped up nationalist and racist passions. The quake may have emboldened right-wing forces at the very moment that the country was poised between military expansion and an embrace of Western democracy, only 18 years before Japan would enter World War II.

During the quake Jiri assists a fellow passenger Naoko and her maid, but after the earthquake the couple don’t meet again until many years later. In the meantime Horishoki graduates and gets a job with Mitsubishi where he is sent to Germany to study ‘modern’ aircraft design. Its interesting to see how the Germans are portrayed as so secretive about their technology even with their allies.

The story continues with the engineering struggles and breakthroughs as well as the developing relationship of Jiri and Naoko, his dedication to his work and her decline due to tuberculosis. The culmination of the film is when Jiri’s ‘breakthrough’ prototype aircraft, A5M1 (Claude) strangely named nine seat fighter “Tachinu Wind” by Fine Molds?, takes flight.

The film has some stunning animation, its and interesting story dealing with, well mentioning anyway, engineering/technological issues, the problems of having your designs/ideas used for purposes you don’t intend them for and personal sacrifice.

Would I recommend the film, well its my entry into the GB so you can tell I’m biased, but if you like Japanese animation and are interested in aircraft then its defiantly worth a look.

I’ll be back with some info on the aircraft shortly

rgds
John(shortCummins)

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 9:42 am

some images from the film…

part of a "dream sequence" where the young Jiri meets Caproni

Jiri's first day working at Mitsubishi

Jiri's paper plane inspiration

Jiri's best friend gets to build Japan's first all metal bomber based on a Junkers design

Jiri's prototype wheeled out to the airfield

Jiri gets to learn from mistakes

Jiri's prototype surpasses all expectations

rgds
John (shortCummins)

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 9:59 am

details about the real aircraft
(from wikipedia)

The Mitsubishi A5M, Japanese Navy designation was "Type 96 carrier-based fighter" (九六式艦上戦闘機) was a Japanese carrier-based fighter aircraft. It was the world's first monoplane shipboard fighter and the direct ancestor of the famous Mitsubishi A6M 'Zero'. The Allied reporting name was Claude.

First prototype with inverted gull wing

Design and development
In 1934, the Imperial Japanese Navy prepared a specification for an advanced fighter, requiring a maximum speed of 350 km/h (220 mph) at 3,000 m (9,840 ft) and able to climb to 5,000 m (16,400 ft) in 6.5 minutes. This 9-shi (1934) specification produced designs from both Mitsubishi and Nakajima.

Mitsubishi assigned the task of designing the new fighter to a team led by Jiro Horikoshi (original creator of the similar but unsuccessful Mitsubishi 1MF10, and later responsible for the famous A6M Zero). The resulting design, designated Ka-14 by Mitsubishi, was an all-metal low-wing fighter, with a thin elliptical inverted gull wing and a fixed undercarriage, which was chosen as the increase in performance (estimated as 10% in drag, but only a mere 3% increase in maximum speed) arising from use of a retractable undercarriage was not felt to justify the extra weight. The first prototype, powered by a 447 kW (600 hp) Nakajima Kotobuki 5 radial engine, flew on 4 February 1935. The aircraft far exceeded the requirements of the specification, with a maximum speed of 450 km/h (279 mph) being reached. The second prototype was fitted with a revised, ungulled wing, and after various changes to maximize maneuverability and reduce drag, was ordered into production as the A5M.

With the Ka-14 demonstrating excellent performance, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force ordered a single modified prototype for evaluation as the Ki-18. While this demonstrated similar performance to the Navy aircraft and hence was far faster than the IJAAF's current fighter, the Kawasaki Ki-10 biplane, the type was rejected by the army owing to its reduced manoeuvrability. The Army then produced a specification for an improved advanced fighter to replace the Ki-10. Mitsubishi, busy turning the Ka-14 into the A5M, submitted a minimally changed aircraft as the Ki-33, this being defeated by Nakajima's competing aircraft, which was ordered into service as the Ki-27.

Operational history
The aircraft entered service in early 1937, soon seeing action in pitched aerial battles at the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, including air-to-air battles with the Republic of China Air Force's Boeing P-26C Model 281 "Peashooters" in what was the world's first-ever aerial dogfighting and kills between monoplane fighters built of mostly metal

An A5M from the aircraft carrier Akagi in flight with an external fuel tank (1938 or 1939).

Chinese Nationalist pilots, primarily flying the Curtiss Hawk III, put up a valiant fight against the Japanese, but the A5M was the better of almost every fighter aircraft it encountered. Though armed with only a pair of 7.7 mm machine-guns, the new fighter proved effective and damage-tolerant, with excellent maneuverability and robust construction. Later on A5M's also provided much-needed escorts for the then-modern but vulnerable Mitsubishi G3M bombers.

The Mitsubishi team continued to improve the A5M, working through versions until the final A5M4, which carried an external underside drop tank to provide fuel for extended range.

The A5M's most competitive adversary in the air was the Polikarpov I-16, a fast and heavily armed fighter flown by both Chinese Air Force regulars and Soviet volunteers. Fierce air battles in 1938, especially on 18 February and 29 April, ranked among the largest air battles ever fought at the time. The battle of 29 April saw 67 Polikarpov fighters (31 I-16s and 36 I-15 bis) against 18 G3Ms escorted by 27 A5Ms. Each side claimed victory: the Chinese/Soviet side claimed 21 Japanese aircraft (11 fighters and 10 bombers) shot down with 50 Japanese airmen killed and two captured having bailed out while losing 12 aircraft and 5 pilots killed; the Japanese claimed they lost only two G3Ms and two A5Ms shot down with no less than 40 Chinese planes shot down.

104 A5M aircraft were modified to accommodate a two-seater cockpit. This version, used for pilot training, was dubbed the A5M4-K. K version planes continued to be used for pilot training long after standard A5Ms left front-line service.

Almost all A5Ms had open cockpits. A closed cockpit was tried but found little favor among Navy aviators. All had fixed, non-retractable undercarriage. Wheel spats were a feature of standard fighters but not training planes.

The Flying Tigers encountered the Type 96, although not officially, and one was shot down at Mingaladon airfield, Burma on 29 January 1942.

Some A5Ms remained in service at the end of 1941 when the United States entered World War II in the Pacific. US intelligence sources believed the A5M still served as Japan's primary Navy fighter, when in fact the A6M 'Zero' had replaced it on first-line aircraft carriers and with the Tainan Kōkūtai in Taiwan. Other Japanese carriers and Kōkūtai (air groups) continued to use the A5M until production of the Zero caught up with demand. The last combat actions with the A5M as a fighter took place at the Battle of the Coral Sea on 7 May 1942, when two A5Ms and four A6Ms of the Japanese carrier Shōhō fought against US planes that sank their carrier.

In the closing months of the war most remaining A5M airframes were used for kamikaze attacks.

Versions
Ka-14
Six prototypes with various engines and design modifications.
A5M1
Navy carrier-based fighter, Model 1 : first production model with 633 kW (850 hp) Kotobuki 2 KAI I engine.
A5M2/2a
Model 21: More powerful engine.
A5M2b
Model 22: First production examples with NACA cowling and 477 kW (640 hp) Kotobuki 3 engine.
A5M3a
Prototypes with 448 kW (601 hp) Hispano-Suiza 12 Xcrs engine.
A5M4
Model 24 (ex-Model 4): The A5M2b with different engine, closed cockpit, additional detachable fuel tank. The last production models (Model 34) with Kotobuki 41 KAI engine.
A5M1-A5M4
780 constructed by Mitsubishi. 39 constructed by Watanabe, 161 manufactured by Naval Ohmura Arsenal.
A5M4-K
Two seat trainer version of A5M4, 103 constructed by Naval Ohmura Arsenal.
Ki-18
Single prototype land-based version for IJAAF, based on the A5M. 410 kW (550 hp) Kotobuki 5 engine.
Ki-33
Two prototypes, a development of Ki-18 with a different engine, and closed cockpit.

Total Production (all versions): 1,094

Operators

Japan

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
Aircraft carrier Akagi
Aircraft carrier Hōshō
Aircraft carrier Kaga
Aircraft carrier Ryūjō
Aircraft carrier Shōhō
Aircraft carrier Sōryū
Aircraft carrier Zuihō
Chitose Kōkūtai
Oita Kōkūtai
Ōminato Kōkūtai
Omura Kōkūtai
Sasebo Kōkūtai
Tainan Kōkūtai
Yokosuka Kōkūtai
12 Air Corps
13 Air Corps
14 Air Corps
15 Air Corps

Specifications (Mitsubishi A5M4)
Data from The Concise Guide to Axis Aircraft of World War II

General characteristics

Crew: One
Length: 7.55 m (24 ft 9¼ in)
Wingspan: 11.0 m (36 ft 1 in)
Height: 3.20 m (10 ft 6 in)
Wing area: 17.8 m² (191.6 ft²)
Empty weight: 1,216 kg (2,681 lb)
Loaded weight: 1,705 kg (3,759 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 1,822 kg[19] (4,017 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Nakajima Kotobuki 41 9-cylinder radial engine, 585 kW (785 hp) at 3,000 m (9,840 ft)
Performance

Maximum speed: 440 km/h (237 knots, 273 mph) at 3,000 m (9,840 ft)[19]
Range: 1,200 km (649 NM, 746 mi)
Service ceiling: 9,800 m (32,150 ft)
Rate of climb: m/s (ft/min)
Wing loading: 95.87 kg/m² (19.6 lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 0.34 kW/kg (0.21 hp/lb)
Armament

Guns: 2× 7.7 mm Type 89 machine gun (0.303 in) fuselage-mounted machine guns

MadDaddy · Post by **MadDaddy** » Fri Jan 02, 2015 4:23 pm

That looks cool. I'll have to get one of those and check out the anime.

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Fri Jan 02, 2015 8:25 pm

I've received an email telling me that the kit has arrived in the UK, can't wait

CJSomerset · Post by **CJSomerset** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 11:36 am

Love all Ghibli movies and my daughter has inherited the passion. All her Xmas pressies were Ghibli related this year and The Wind Rises was one of them.

Mitisubushi wasn't mentioned in the film so it wasn't until JIro met Dr Junkers that I started to suspect that it was based on fact. Whenhe went back to Japan I said to my daughter " He's going to design the Zero" but she didn't know what I was talking about.

When I saw the Rising Sun GB I immediately thought of making a Ghibli kit, I saw a great Princess Monoknoki flyer at a model show last year. But when I saw the term "must have been in service" in the rules I assumed that a movie subject wouldn't count.

Would you mind sharing a link to the company you bought from?

Have you seen The Grave of Fireflies? That's gotta be one of the best war movies and the saddest film ever.

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 1:45 pm

Hi CJ,

CJSomerset wrote:When I saw the Rising Sun GB I immediately thought of making a Ghibli kit, I saw a great Princess Monoknoki flyer at a model show last year. But when I saw the term "must have been in service" in the rules I assumed that a movie subject wouldn't count.

although the aircraft is the subject of a cartoon film it was/is a "real" aircraft, its just serendipity as far as I'm concerned that three of my favourite things, anime, aircraft and modelling bump into each other

CJSomerset wrote:Mitisubushi wasn't mentioned in the film so it wasn't until JIro met Dr Junkers that I started to suspect that it was based on fact. Whenhe went back to Japan I said to my daughter " He's going to design the Zero" but she didn't know what I was talking about.

If you turn on English subtitles when Jiri first arrives at the large wooden hanger the sign painted on the hanger is translated to "Mitsubishi Heavy Industries"

CJSomerset wrote:
Would you mind sharing a link to the company you bought from?

I bought this from Borderless World (Japan), via Amazon.uk here's the link…

CJSomerset wrote: Have you seen The Grave of Fireflies? That's gotta be one of the best war movies and the saddest film ever.

no I've not seen it yet, but it looks to be my sort of film, thanks for the pointer

rgds
John (shortCummins)

CJSomerset · Post by **CJSomerset** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 9:02 pm

Arrrgh..We saw the dubbed version!

Thanks for the link, but you may not thank me after seeing Grave of Fireflies, it's a very hard film to watch, almost like a cartoon Schindlers list!

You might like to check out Porco Russo as well lots of aircraft in that one. Or if magic racoons who can turn their testicles into bridges is more your thing Pom Poko is the movie for you.

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 5:48 pm

still waiting for the kit to arrive so I found some more info…

I like this quote...
"moves like Lauren Bacall"- thats what USMC fighter pilots said about the claude

The Claude was surprisingly durable, as proven by an incident on December 9, 1938. During combat with Curtis Hawks over Nanchang, a Type 96 collided with an unidentified aircraft, tearing off a third of its left wing, yet the pilot, Kanichi Kashimura, managed to fly the plane back to base safely.

Over a thousand A5Ms were built, in a number of different versions.
The Claude flew its first combat mission over China on September 18, 1937, and at the time outclassed anything in the Chinese inventory. The fighter had one of its best days on December 2 of that year, when a flight of A5Ms destroyed ten Russian-made I-16s for no loss. Most of Japan’s great aces got their start in Claudes, including Japan’s top gun Tetsuzo Iwamoto, who shot down 14 Chinese planes in the Type 96 (80 Allied planes over his career).
As of December 7, 1941, most A5Ms had been replaced in front-line service by A6M Zeroes, although Type 96 fighters from the light aircraft carrier Ryujo supported Japanese landings in the Philippines, and Claudes opposed American strikes in the Marshall Islands in February, one A5M being downed there for the first air-to-air victory for the U.S. Navy in World War II. Others saw action in Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, and the Bay of Bengal, but by May of 1942, all had been withdrawn from front-line service. In the last months of the war, however, Japan’s desperate situation forced her to reactivate Claudes for use as kamikaze planes.

more soon (hopefully)
John (shortCummins)

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 4:55 pm

well as I've not received the kit yet I got in touch with Toy Shop Japan, I think their answer must have been eaten by the translation machine as they're asking for proof that its not been delivered!?

I going to be really peed off if it doesn't turn up soon

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 5:30 pm

love this movie , very much looking forward to seeing this

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 6:51 pm

Aliktren wrote:love this movie , very much looking forward to seeing this

so am I Aliktren, the kit has been in the country since the start of the month, its just not been delivered to my house!

Hoggarth · Post by **Hoggarth** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 9:25 pm

Looking forward to seeing this built. The movie was excellent and I have thought several times of getting this model as well as the "bird-like" model that is also available.

http://www.amazon.com/Fine-Molds-The-Wi ... B00E0E4ZBM

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:32 pm

no news on your kit ?

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 5:25 pm

Aliktren wrote:no news on your kit ?

well it turns out that its been delivered…

…to the wrong address!

I moved just before Christmas and signed-up to Royal Mail's 'redirect' service. So the package comes all the way from Japan, via Parcelforce, then is given to the Royal Mail to deliver, you know the company who I paid for the redirect service, so on Jan 2nd they delivered, and got it signed for, to my old address.
The very helpful lady at customer services said that it was totally their fault, after all I'd paid for the redirect service!, and that she was going to get the postman who delivered the parcel, getting a signature from a complete stranger, back to my old address and ask for my parcel (some hope!)
Amazon have said that I should be able to claim back my money, from them? I'm not sure on that just yet but in truth I want the model more than the money!
So what it means now is that I can back in touch with TOY SHOP JAPAN HOBBYONE who will then be able to get some recompense from Royal Mail, and send me a replacement? assuming that I don't get the original one? If this happens, it'll take quite some time and I'll probably have to miss this SiG which will be a bummer as its the first one I've tried to enter.

rgds
John (shortCummins)

Hoggarth · Post by **Hoggarth** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:19 pm

Aww man, that's terrible

Sorry to hear that. Hope it works out for you.

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 3:30 pm

so there's been no-joy from the post office trying to retrieve the kit from my old address.

they've reiterated that I can't complain as I'm the intended receiver of the goods not the sender, the contract is between TOP SHOP JAPAN and the post office!

however, I contacted Amazon and explained the problem to them. Amazon have offered to deal with TOY SHOP JAPAN HOBBYONE, I've given them the complaint ref no so hopefully TOY SHOP JAPAN will be able to claim the value of the kit back.

Amazon have refunded my money, this is incredible customer service! Amazon know, because I told them, that TOY SHOP JAPAN did nothing wrong, Amazon did nothing wrong, the only people to mess-up was the post office! The deal is that if I end up with 2 kits, if the post office retrieve the first one, I need to let them know and either pay for the 2nd one or return it, quite reasonable I think.

So now I've re-ordered the kit, delivery should be sometime between 20 Feb and 27 March, so even if it arrives towards the end of that time scale providing I 'pull my finger out' I should be able to complete the kit before the end of the SiG

Once again I can't praise Amazon enough

whenever I need to order another kit thats not easily available in the UK Amazon will be my first port of call.

My feelings towards the post office are somewhat different

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 3:44 pm

Hurray!!

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 3:45 pm

film is on today as well

- Film4

rodrant · Post by **rodrant** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 9:02 pm

Glad that all that missing kit story end up well , and really hope to see this build ! Because of this thread I watch the film , and liked a lot ! Thank you !

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 3:32 pm

I've just received an email letting me know that my model has left Japan (11th Feb)

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 3:53 pm

the package has landed in the UK (17th Feb), hopefully not long now

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 4:13 pm

hurray!

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 1:56 pm

Well look what arrived today…

It finally arrived, I was like a little kid at Christmas

All of the sprues and decals came in one bag

two main sprues

windsheild

...really clear glass

decals, not many

Instructions are mainly in Japanese

nice clear diagrams

… and a single paint scheme

I can’t wait to get started

until next time
rgds
John(shortCummins)

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:08 pm

nice, glad you got your kit!

heel · Post by **heel** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 1:06 pm

Ok, John. It's been a day now. On with the updates!

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 4:18 pm

heel wrote:Ok, John. It's been a day now. On with the updates!

ha ha

here's the next lot…

can I start by saying the level of detail on this kit is beyond anything I've seen before, its truly stunning, FineMolds is well named and if this kit is any indication of the standard of their work this will be the first of many FineMolds kits that I'll be buying.

please forgive the slightly out of focus photos, here are some examples of the quality of this kit…

the underside of the fuselage where the wings join

the cockpit floor

the fuselage between the wing root and cockpit

these photos just don't show the 'real' level of the quality of the mouldings, I'll totally blown away by them. If any of you saw my Bf109 build you'll know that I'm a 'returner' to the hobby after many years absence, the Airfix kit was really forgiving and helped me try out a number of new re-found skills. Having enjoyed building that I went out and bought a couple, well three

, of Tamiya kits a 1/35 Hanomag Sdkfz 251/1, 1/48 P-51D and a 1/48 Beaufighter. I know that most of these are 'older' Tamiya kits, the FineMolds is a 2013 kit, the level of detail between them and the Airfix kit is noticeable, I've always thought that Tamiya were the 'Rolls Royce' of kits however, the FineMolds kits is the same level above the Tamiya kits as the Tamiya kits are above the Airfix.

The FineMolds kit was under £20, this included P&P from Japan, stunning value, if your wondering what 1/48 aircraft to get next, get this kit, you won't be disappointed!

I've just seen its now £22.25, still an absolute bargain!

well I've got a few minutes before I get nagged/asked to do something else so I'm just going to go and admire the kit a bit more

I'll return with some progress soon
until then
John (shortCummins)

Thumboy · Post by **Thumboy** » Fri Feb 20, 2015 8:19 pm

It arrived

I didn't think it would come until the last day of the GB

Looks like a great kit, I know what you mean about the step up in quality from airfix. I have only been back in the hobby a year and thought airfix was very good until I got a tamiya corsair this week. Now I know why they are twice the price.

good luck with the build, looking forward to seeing it come together

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 4:56 pm

started the office…

next, primer and 'interior green'

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 5:16 pm

the ruler is to give an idea of scale

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 7:09 pm

small update…

I've not had too much time to devote to this model, sometimes life just gets in the way

anyhow, I've made a little progress with painting the office.

the handles are Tamiya flat black (XF-1)

this is the Mr Color metallic blue (H63), its a really good colour

Mr Metal Color Iron (212)

the start of one, of two, air? cylinders which will sit behind the pilots seat bulkhead. The fixings and straps (I don't think they show up in this photo) need to be painted the same interior green as the cockpit, and the taps need to be a gold(ish) colour.

here are the paints…

I've now a bit of a quandary, this is meant to be a prototype so I'm not sure how much 'wear and tear', if any, to add, if it was a well used aircraft if would be easy?

any suggestions would be great fully received.

Hopefully over the next couple of days I'll finish detailing the office and put it all together.

until then
rgds
John (shortCummins)

Thumboy · Post by **Thumboy** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 9:19 pm

I am in the same position - making a prototype aircraft (J7W1 Shinden) and not sure how much weathering to do. From the look of your reference pictures I would say keep it clean and simple. Maybe a semi gloss finish. Good luck with the rest of the build, I look forward to seeing what you do with her

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Wed Mar 04, 2015 9:52 am

ordered some of that metallic blue off the back of this

- looking great !

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Thu Mar 05, 2015 5:07 pm

Another small update

This kit gives you the option of using either a pre-moulded piece or a flat piece and a decal to represent the ip. As this is my 2nd model, after a short (years and years) layoff, I dry-brushed the ip on the Airfix Bf109, I’ve not used a decal for the ip before so I’ve plumped to use the decal in this instance.

Putting the office together...

Side structure and ip fitted

Both side structures fitted

Machine guns and forward bulkhead fitted

Air? tanks fitted behind set bulkhead

Office profiles

I know I said it earlier but I’m so impressed with the level of detail in this kit, I’m sorry my photos don’t show just how good it is!

next I'll be nailing the body together and fitting the wings

any comments or suggestions are always welcome
until then
rgds

John (shortCummins)

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Fri Mar 06, 2015 7:43 pm

Closing the fuselage

Dry fitting the cockpit

Gun cover fitted

Top of wings added to bottom of wings

I sprayed the metallic blue in case it could be seen from the cockpit (it can’t)

Wings nailed to the fuselage

almost perfect fit between the wings and fuselage

A little bit of filler needed were the back of the wing joins the fuselage

The fit of the fuselage is exceptional, no filler was needed, just a little light sanding and polishing and the join disappears. The only place a little bit of filler is needed is were the back of the wing joins the fuselage.

next I'll be building the engine

any comments or suggestions are always welcome
until then
rgds

John (shortCummins)

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Sat Mar 07, 2015 5:29 pm

Building the engine

The engine is made from 8 separate parts ...

I’ve decided to slightly ignore the paint call-outs and use my own colours

The call-out says to use steel however I only used steel for the top (rocker covers?) and iron for the engine casing.

I picked out the ignition leads? with copper. Aliktren painted part of his excellent Dina engine copper and as it looked so good on his model I wanted to add some of his 'flavour' to mine, thanks for the inspiration Aliktren

The rear of the engine block I painted steel, as per the instructions

Not sure what this part details, air intakes and assorted plumbing, anywho the call-outs say it should be silver I decided on flat-aluminium

Here are both parts together, unfortunately the photo doesn’t show the subtile variation in colour between the two however they look really good to the naked-eye

The push-rods? are silver, as per call-out

The exhaust mainfold is burnt-iron, as per call-out

The front cover is the same colour as the overall aircraft (grey)

The front of the engine, there’s a poly cap hidden behind the front cover

The rear of the engine block

The air-intakes and manifolds fitted

The engine cowling completes the assembly (Tamyia X-1 black)

PAINTS USED

Mr Metal Color - 212 - iron
Mr Metal Color - 215 - copper
Vallejo - steel

Mr Hobby - 8 - silver
Mr Hobby - 76 - burnt iron
Mr Hobby - 311 - grey

Tamiya - X-1 - black
Tamiya - X-16 - flat aluminum

Next up will be a coat of primer and some pre-shading for the main body of the aircraft

any comments or suggestions are always welcome
until then
rgds

John (shortCummins)

CJSomerset · Post by **CJSomerset** » Sat Mar 07, 2015 6:25 pm

Nice to see that you finally got underway with this, it looks like a really good kit. Great work so far, looking forward to the rest.

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Sun Mar 08, 2015 6:08 am

CJSomerset wrote:Nice to see that you finally got underway with this, it looks like a really good kit. Great work so far, looking forward to the rest.

thanks CJ I've really enjoyed the build so far and in some ways I'm dragging my feet because I don't want it to end

if you ever want to build a 'between the wars' Japanese fighter I can't recommend this kit highly enough

rodrant · Post by **rodrant** » Sun Mar 08, 2015 8:58 pm

Now that seems a very nice kit ! And you are doing such a nice build so far

Keep going , this one is a follow one to me !

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 7:30 pm

while I'm waiting for my primer to fully cure I've had a chance to watch the film "the Wind Rises" from which FineMolds have used as a marketing tool for this kit, its a good film and if you're remotely interested in Japanese anime and aircraft, who isn't?, then I do urge you to have a look at it.

anyhow watching the film again, one of the first aircraft that Jiri (the 'hero' of the film and the designer of both the A5M Claude, my kit, and eventually the Zero) worked on was the Mitsubishi Type 95 Perry Katos fighter. This aircraft was a bi-plane and saw service in the 2nd Sino-Japanese War 1937-41.
As I've really enjoyed building this kit I've decided to get another FineMolds model in the hope that its as good as this one. So looking around I notice that FineMolds make a couple of versions of the Type 95

this is the version I'm going to order

I've not made a bi-plane, well I did as a kid but I really don't think that counts

so I'll have to get some ez line to have a go at the rigging

I'll post more on the priming, post-shading and top coating of the aircraft later in the week

until then
rgds
John (shortCummins)

Aliktren · Post by **Aliktren** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 9:39 pm

Nice looking kit, great job

gaz45 · Post by **gaz45** » Fri Mar 13, 2015 1:13 pm

very nice work there mate and some great painting

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Fri Mar 13, 2015 5:20 pm

I used mig grey surface primer, very smooth and easy to use straight from the bottle

very thinned, too thin?, Tamiya XF1 used to start pre-shading

I'm off to finish the pre shading, hopefully I'll get time to paint the top coat over the weekend, Mothering Sunday might get in the way

until then
rgds
John (shortCummins)

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Sun Mar 15, 2015 7:52 pm

I let the pre-shading dry overnight and then started applying the top coat of Mr Hobby Color 311 grey

The pre-shading shows through nicely

Wheels masked

Next I prepared to paint the wing tips (black), and tail (red) by masking with Tamiya tape and a Montex ‘maxi mask’ for the Hinomaru

I also started painting the propellor, first silver ...

...and then masked for the Tamiya flat back on the reverse of the propellor

Masks removed…

I wasn’t careful enough with my masking so I’ll have to tidy up some overspray

I didn’t press the Montex masks firmly enough and some paint seeped under them

Once I’ve fixed the overspray and seepage I’ll give everything a coat of Klear in preperation for a Ultimate wash.

any suggestions would be great fully received.

until then
rgds
John (shortCummins)

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Tue Mar 17, 2015 4:48 pm

a couple of cock-ups!

firstly I painted the tail and rear wings separately as I figured it would help with masking for the 'red tail', however I didn't spray them with the light grey (as I did the fuselage) which gave them a darker red colour…

no problem I thought, I'll just respray with primer and then with the grey and finally the red and all will be good

this is the result!

I was too impatient, I think I should have lightly sanded the top coat to give it a 'key' for the primer? I didn't and now I've got to decide what to do to repair this situation.

At the moment I'm thinking that I need to strip off the existing paint, sanding would remove too much detail? so I'm off to trawl YouTube to see if there are any 'how to's'

If anyone has got any advice on what to do with this I would be really grateful

rgds
John (shortCummins)

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 9:31 am

Fixing my (self inflicted) paint issues…

Well I had a look on YouTube and found this…

...this guy uses Ultimate airbrush cleaner to strip off unwanted paint

Luckily I’ve got some of this

so I thought I’d give it a try and these are the results

I guess it took around 5 minutes of gentle scrubbing using an old brush and several cotton buds/q-tips to remove around 98% of the paint

So I’ve now found a new use for Ultimate cleaner, must buy some more!

Well I’ve learned a number of lessons…

Paint everything the same, primer, pre-shade, top coat and any final colour(s), if you want them to look the same
Be patient, take my time and think things through, don’t try to take short cuts.
Use the forum and YouTube, someone has been there before you and had the good sense to let you know ‘how to’ do whatever it is your trying to rectify.

I’ll now start again with the primer, pre-shade (I need the practice anyway) and then use the grey BEFORE respraying the red.

As always and comments or suggestions will be gratefully recieved

Until next time
rgds
John (shortCummins)

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 8:12 pm

very strange…

well after stripping the paint I resprayed the primer…

the only difference between the first time I sprayed the primer, which gave a fantastic result, an this was the air pressure setting on my HokeyCokey2000 Chinese compressor? The first time I had the pressure set to 18 and this time to 25!

So back to the Ultimate bath and try again

slightly out of focus but just right! so lesson learned use 18psi for mig primer however…

this happened to the other one!?

I really don't understand, this was sprayed immediately after the previous one, same primer (straight out of the can) and psi settings?

so back to the Ultimate bath, again

third time lucky

any suggestions would be great fully received.

until then
rgds
John (shortCummins)

shortCummins · Post by **shortCummins** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 8:18 pm

if you've been reading all of my thread you'll remember that one of my 'lessons learned' was that I needed to be patient

so after painting the tail and rear wings numerous times to get the colour to match, which I finally did

all I needed to do was to nail them to the main body.
I've been using Tamiya Extra Thin, wonderful stuff, so I glued the tail and then the two rear wings, so far so good.
I know that I've been singing the praises of this kit, and I'll continue to do so, however the wings have little locating tabs that are a little loose. I'm guessing that the thickness of the fuselage is a little too thin where these join? So they sagged, no problem I've got some 'normal' glue I'll use a dab of that

here's the result…

… and where my finger was holding it 'in place'…

"oh my word, thats a nuisance" I muttered under my breath

so after rookie mistake No. 127 (using too much glue) I'll remask and respray the entire tail section in one go, I know if I'd not tried to be cleaver and do this in the first place I'd have saved myself a world of heartache

This afternoon I've lightly sanded the tail, made sure the bits are firmly attached and applied yet another coat of primer, over the weekend (if work permits) I'll get it back to the 'red' stage

as always if anyone has any comments or advice I would be really grateful
until next time

rgds
John (shortCummins)